The English Poems of George Herbert

Earlier this year I bought a cheap ebook of the Complete Works of George Herbert, only to find myself constantly searching online for interpretations of whatever poem I was trying to understand. I plodded on for a few months before discovering this eTextbook. Highly recommend, except for the fact that I have to use my smartphone kindle app instead of my kindle device to open it.

If you've been frustrated with George Herbert's wonderful poems, yet you know you've been missing a good bit of them due to words you didn't know -- buy this book! It defines them all. I have three other books on Herbert's devotional poems but none of them define every archaic word. Then I bought this beauty (a bit pricey!) and now I have a one stop resource for every old word and after some study I get every part of every poem. I'm very glad I found and bought it,

The one-star review of this book is a review of an entirely different book. The Wilcox edition is THE edition of Herbert's poems and one of the best editions of any literary work ever produced.

Amazon can't get their act together. They are, evidently, unable to differentiate between three different editions of Herbert's poems; even though the three different editions all have different publishers. If you buy the cheap one, you get the photographic reprint. If you buy the mid-priced one, you get some not-described version. If you buy the expensive one, you get the version other reviewers say is the definitive version (theoretically, though that's dubious).It seems the expensive one is worth the money; but if you're paying less than $30, you're not getting what you wanted..

George Herbert's poetry is, to my ears, some of the best religious poetry ever written. I studied a lot of poetry in grad school, but Herbert remains at the very top of my own personal literary canon. In Herbert, the best of godly devotion and exquisite craftsmanship are married, and that is a rare thing.This edition is the definitive, academic edition of Herbert's poetry. It's not cheap, but if you want to study Herbert's poetry and not just delight in it on your own, this is the edition to have. The Cambridge edition comes complete with historical, literary and biblical information. In addition to the introduction and notes, there is also a glossary of key words, an index of biblical quotations, and the extensive explanatory and textual apparatus you would expect in a critical edition.The poetry itself is divine. Although English metaphysical poetry may not be to everyone's taste, and it will be difficult for many modern readers, it's perfectly suited to mine. I love the whimsical word play and the delight in the English language that Herbert manifests. The form matches the matter, and it always seems as if the poems end when they should on a note of satisfaction and having said just what one wanted to say. Most important of all, Herbert's poetry assists me in my praise of and devotion to my Lord.One of the most excellent aspects of Herbert's poetry is that it is not merely the individual meditations of a solitary Christian but is intimately connected to the life of Christ by being connected to His Bride, the Church. The structure of Herbert's collection, "The Temple," is aptly named. In summary, Herbert's poetry is a delight to my ears, my tongue, my mind, and my soul!Herbert's poetry also has a very personal connection with me: I used to read it to my wife when we were courting and early in our marriage. Not only did it move her, but it also raised her estimation of me. Thank you, George Herbert!I can't leave without quoting my favorite 2-line poem in the universe (from Herbert):Ana {MARY ARMY} gramHow well her name an Army doth present,In whom the Lord of hosts did pitch his tent!

A warning: Amazon claims this is the paperback version of Helen Wilcox's superb scholarly edition of the poems of George Herbert. This is claimed on the first page of the Amazon notice; also on a following page, where the extracts from journal reviews (etc) are clearly for Wilcox's book. Wilcox's book is published by Cambridge University Press, UK. This paperback is a different and much smaller book, published by "First Rate Publishers", as confirmed by the different covers. At best, Amazon has made some kind of silly mistake here. At worst, this looks more like misleading advertising, open to legal challenge.

I looked at Amazon's page on "Helen Wilcox George Herbert" and clicked on "The English poems of George Herbert". The product review contained such laudatory reviews as "A magnificent book, making Herbert's poetry intelligible to current readers and scholars and students, with an eloquent introduction finely characterizing his imagination and his accomplishment." and the product details included "Publisher ‏ : ‎ HardPress Publishing (4 Aug. 2014); Print length ‏ : ‎ 496 pages". Three prices were quoted: Kindle edition £5.76; hardcover £24.87, 2 new from £22.95; paperback £16.95. I chose to buy the hardback at £22.95. I was astonished, and extremely disappointed, to receive a reprint of a 1916 edition of a 427 page book by George Herbert Palmer, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. It had no scholarly apparatus, no notes, just - apart from the poems - brief explanations of Palmer's re-ordering of the poems compared to their original publication in "The temple". Only the title was as advertised.I call this misrepresentation. Had I probed more deeply into the body of Amazon's description I would have uncovered the deception. Unfortunately I trusted the headline, and was, in effect, conned.Beware!

For anyone wanting to really get to grips with George Herbert, this is the book for you. All of the English poems are here, along with exhaustive textual notes explaining Herbert's vocabulary and syntax, as will as exploring in an introductory way the themes and meanings of his poetry. The introductory essay is helpful, if somewhat brief, and a more expansive introduction might have been helpful but I guess was excluded because of space - in what is already a very large tome.My only complaint is the poverty of some of the theological comments - Herbert's faith is so well developed theologically and conceptually that this is missed by the more literary critical approach taken in this volume.Accessible, clear, and comprehensive - get this and you'll fall in love with George Herbert's poetry, and maybe even start to appreciate his love for God and gratitude to Jesus his Saviour.

Achtung, diese Bewertung bezieht sich nicht auf den Inhalt dieser akademischen Meisterleistung, die zweifelsohne einwandfrei ist. Allerdings habe ich ein Exemplar erhalten, bei dem sich die Druckmaske dieses Print-On-Demand-Buches verschoben hat, was zu einem sehr schmalen aussen und einem sehr breiten Rand, wo die Seiten zusammenlaufen, führte. Amazon.de war trotz zahlreicher Mails nicht fähig, mir des Mangels wegen angemessen entgegenzukommen. Schlecht!

One of the greatest devotional poets in the English language.